Shavon Arline-Bradley Talks Health with The Loop 21

Posted on May 23, 2012

In advance of the NAACP’s 8th Annual Leadership 500 Summit, which will hit Destin, Florida on May 24 through 27, we sat down with the New Guard of the 103-year-old civil rights organization to discuss the biggest issues impacting African Americans today and what we can do about them. These 5 dynamic young women are leading the march toward equality in these decidedly turbulent times. Today, we talk to Shavon Arline-Bradley, MPH, Director, Health Programs.

Arline-Bradley: This is the dream job for anyone in civil rights work, and anyone interested in supporting communities of color. The health side of it was intriguing because I served as a local branch health committee chair — I actually was the person that this department is responsible and accountable for on a local level. I always said to myself, if I could ever be the Director of Health, I would make sure that local chapters had what they needed to be able to get things done. And so I was not only an NAACPer, but a civil rights person in my heart, and someone who understands the needs on the local level. My background is in public health. It was a no-brainer for me to be involved in a 100-year-old organization that had never lost its brand name, that also needed young people to come on board to help support and push the mission with some new tactics.

Loop 21: What is your background in the health sector?

Arline-Bradley: I got two degrees from Tulane University: an undergraduate degree in exercise physiology and science, and my masters in public health. I was an athlete in college; I went to school on a track scholarship, but I actually started doing public health work even before I got my graduate degree, working in communities of color in New Orleans to help them with healthy eating and physical activity. That led to my minority health disparities research under Dr. David Thatcher’s leadership as Surgeon General. I served as the health programs coordinator for a program called REACH 2010 (Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health). I learned how to integrate community input and outreach and turn that into tangible programs.